Joanna Crews
The Energy Department plans to award 219 research and development grants cumulatively worth $34 million to 183 small businesses from 41 states, the agency announced Monday.
Rick Perry said that Phase I grants will be funded via the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, with the department awarding a median of $150,000 for each Phase I program which are slated to run for six to 12 months.
Initiatives the grants will fund include magnetic cores for power converters, enhancements to lithium-ion batteries, solvents for carbon dioxide capture and space grids for fuel assemblies with accident-tolerance.
The research and development efforts will support several DOE offices including the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Office of Environmental Management, Office of Fusion Energy Science and Office of High Energy Physics.
The DOE said recipients of the Phase I grants can compete for Phase II funding, to be awarded in fiscal year 2019. Phase II awards, which will have a median amount of $1 million and run for up to two years, will cover prototype development or process validation of Phase I research results.
Congress developed the SBIR and STTR programs to allow small businesses to help federal agencies advance projects.
